Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-11-17
The Railroad Mans Dinner Pail.

There are very few railroad men
who are not obliged at some time or
other to carry dinner pail. For the
ethics of time tables are past explain
ing. No one, unless it be the dapper
young gentleman i'll the general office,
can tell why what has always been the
morning train from Mill Valley should
suddenly veer about, and become the
night train up from Hill Top. And
everybody connected with the train
from conductor to water-boy, must inn
mediately change his abode, regard
less of the little home this one has Just
purchased, or the church with which
that one has just united, or the chill
drens schooling, or the place where
the baby is buried For the trains are
for the service of the public, and how
ever kind and helpful the officials may
be individually, it is not possible for
them to consider the private interests
of the employees in making up sched-
ules of time. And as all these re-
movals and changes cannot be ac-
compiished in a day or 4 week, it will
be seen that the dinner pail is u neces-
sary utcnsil IN every well regulated
railroad family. And when the vast
number of these families and the house,
keeping, good, bad, or indifferent they
must necessarily do, is considered, it
viii be seen that railroad mans
dinner pail represents great deal.
Then, in addition to the many regular
trains, both passenger and freight,
which are supposed to keep tolerably
regular hours barring calamity, there
are also many irregular trains, con-
struction, gravel, snow pillow, etc,
which slip in between the others, ~
ing by when they must, and going on
when they can, only keeping out of
the way, so that it is matter of
wonder that dyspepsia has not marked
every railroad man for its own, long
ago.
There is the man who gets his break
fast and supper in one town, his din
ner in another, and lodges in "A third.
Then there is the man who "runs
spare" that is may be called upon to
fill any temporary vacancy in his
branch of the service. And when his
wife has within few weeks changed
her meal hours to accommodate every
train on the road, when her breakfast
has ranged from five to nine, her dim
ner from eleven to two, and her tea
hour from five to half-past ten. She
may be forgiven for thinking that her
housekeeping is growing chaotic, and
feeling u wild desire to grasp some
thing steady until her brain stops
whirlng. DO you say that good
housekeeping is quite impossible under
such circumstances? Housekeeping
of some sort must be done, neyerthe-
less, and as long as the dinner pail is
brought in by its lawful owner, walk
ing upright, and he is not borne in
helpless. the wife has a welcome for it
and him, let the hours be never so ir-
regular.
1t is even possible, and sometimes
necessary, to pack dinner pail with
sufficient food to last from Saturday
night until Monday morning And to
any young wife who has this to do,
let me whisper a word right here that
has not very much to do with your
husbands dinner pail, but great deal
to do with the happiness of your home.
Do not salt the food with tears because
you must stay alone; they will make it
bitter when it most needs to be sweet
And when you shut your husband out
on Saturday night do not let the last
glimpse he has of you be obscured by
vision Of a pocket handkerchief
where needs TO see cheerful face.
Keep all that out Of sight until he is
fairly gone, no matter what parox-
ysms of loneliness you give way to i'm
mediately afterwards. II annette
Poole, IN Good housekeeping.